


Dependency

by paperjamBipper



Series: Memory Lane [12]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Codependency, Episode: s02e12 A Tale of Two Stans, Gen, Teenage Stan Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25406956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperjamBipper/pseuds/paperjamBipper
Summary: Stanford Pines wasn't telling the whole truth when he explained how he wound up at Backupsmore University.He claims he's happy to be rid of Stanley always breathing down his neck, but his depleting grades seem to tell otherwise.
Relationships: Ford Pines & Stan Pines
Series: Memory Lane [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830763
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	Dependency

**Author's Note:**

> It's always been a headcanon of mine that after Stan left, Ford spiraled into an awful depressive state that brought his grades down. He hates to be wrong, and, worse, he hates to think too hard about the fact that he may never see his twin brother again.

“Are you kidding me?” Stanford spits angrily. “Why would I want to do anything with the person who sabotaged my entire future?” He shoves his brother Stanley against the couch, and storms out of the room and up the stairs just as his parents enter to confront him. This is the last straw. He isn’t going to defend his brother’s dumb actions this time. He’s his own.

Stanford walks into his bedroom and slams the door shut. He can still hear his father and his brother talking loudly downstairs, so he lies down on his bed and covers his ears with his pillow to drown the noise out. It doesn’t work very well, so he’s shocked at first when he hears complete silence from downstairs. However, Ford soon realizes that Stan’s probably just coming up the stairs to get him to reason with their father, so he stands up and locks his bedroom door. As he makes his way back to his bed, he notices the flyer for West Coast Tech that was sitting on the drawer next to it. He picks it up as he sits back down, and begins to look through it sadly.

He’s about to crumple it up and throw it away, but a loud thumping noise followed by his father’s voice coming from outside captures his attention. He walks over to his bedroom window and opens it. Outside, Stanley is sitting helplessly on the sidewalk with a duffle bag in his lap as his father yells at him.

“You ignoramus! Your brother was gonna be our ticket out of this dump! All you ever do is lie and cheat and ride on your brother’s coattails. Well this time you cost our family potential millions! And until you make us a fortune, you aren’t welcome in this household!”

“What?” Stan yells in shock, and suddenly notices Ford standing in his bedroom window. “Stanford, tell him he’s bein’ crazy!” He pleads. Ford frowns at first, but then glances down at his West Coat Tech flyer. He sighs heavily and closes the curtains. He lies back down on his bed, and uses his pillow to block out the sound of his brother driving away.

—

The next time Ford sits up in bed, it’s really dark in his room. He must’ve fallen asleep without realizing it. As soon as he sits up, he feels a lot of pain in his chest.

 _No. I don’t miss him. I must have a stomach bug or something._ He thinks, and walks out his bedroom door and heads down the stairs. When he sees Stan’s paddle ball sitting on the couch he jerks his head away and can’t help it when tears begin to stream down his cheeks. _You can’t miss him. He betrayed you._

“Oh lovely! You’re up!” His mother’s voice startles him. He turns around to see where she is, and sees her coming out of the kitchen with a plate of pancakes.

“I was just about to wake you up!” She says as she approaches him. “I made you a plate of…” She starts, but then her voice trails out when she sees the look on his face. “Oh, hon…” She says, and places the plate of pancakes down on the counter. “Come here” she says, and walks over to him and gives him a hug.

“It’s okay. I know. I miss him too.”

Ford wants to tell her he doesn’t miss his brother, but there’s something preventing him from saying anything. Instead, he hugs her back, and more tears begin to stream down his face.

“Do you want to stay home from school today?” She asks as he pulls away, and he shakes his head, wiping his tears away with his sleeve.

“No. I have a test today that I can’t miss” He says, and then rolls his eyes as he adds “Plus…I think it would help distract me?”

His mom looks at him funny for a moment, and then shrugs. “Alright, if you say so” She walks back to the kitchen to get the plate of pancakes and hands it to Ford. He walks over to the couch and sits down to eat his pancakes. It’s uncomfortably silent in the living room, and when he looks over at the empty seat next to him his chest begins to hurt again, but he ignores the feeling and quickly eats the plate of pancakes. He does everything else he needs to do to get ready for school, and then he gets into his car and drives off to his school.

Once in the building, he avoids everyone in the hallway and heads straight for his first class. He can’t let _anyone_ see that he’s in a vulnerable state. He sits down in his seat and places his backpack on his desk. The last thing he needs is to be alone with his thoughts, so he takes out his notebook and begins studying for his test. Soon enough other students start piling in, and he puts his notes away when his teacher walks in.

“Alright, before we can start today’s lesson I’m going to take attendance as usual” the teacher says. Ford’s name is usually one of the last to be called for attendance, so while he waits he pulls his notes back out and looks at them from his lap.

“Stanford Pines?” The teacher suddenly calls, and Ford raises one arm as he uses the other to put his notebook away. However, as the teacher calls the next name, Ford bangs his head against the edge of his desk.

“Stanley Pines?” the teacher asks, and the entire class goes silent for a moment. “Stanley Pines?” The teacher repeats, and that pain in Ford’s chest returns. _No! Not now!_ Suddenly the teacher turns to face Ford.

“Stanford, do you know where your brother is?” The teacher asks, unknowingly using a poor choice of words as the pain in Ford’s chest grows deeper.

_No._

“He…uh,” Ford starts, but then clears his throat when he notices his voice choking up. “He’s sick” He says, and the teacher raises an eyebrow at him.

“Is he really sick or is he just skipping class?”

“He’s really sick, sir. My parents are usually able to tell when he’s faking right away” Ford lies. There’s a moment of silence, but eventually the teacher sighs.

“Fine” he says, and moves on to the next name on the attendance sheet. As soon as the teacher’s back is turned, Ford stands up and walks to the front of the room and stuffs a few tissues into his jean pockets. He can’t have something like this happen to him all day. This shouldn’t be happening to him at all. Stan sabotaged his chances of entering his dream school and yet he’s all Ford’s been able to think about since he woke up. Sure, first period is only just starting, but Ford can tell this is going to become an issue for the rest of the day. He shared a class with Stan later in the day as well, and if this is the day on the cycle he thinks it is this is one of the two days he and Stan shared a lunch.

A hand touching his shoulder suddenly snaps him from his thoughts and he looks over to see his teacher standing over him.

“Would you mind getting back to your seat, Mr. Pines? I would like to start class now” he says, and Ford awkwardly makes his way back to his seat as his classmates laugh at him. _He would’ve had a great comeback to that._ He thinks, but shakes the thought out of his head. He can’t waste his thoughts on someone he doesn’t care about anymore. There are plenty of other schools just as good as WCT, and Ford knows if he keeps his work ethic and grades the way they are, he can get into one of those other schools.

“Thank you” the teacher says when the class finally settles down. “Now, like I was saying on Friday before class ended, the answers you gave on your homework are going to determine the group you’re going to be in for this project. I hope all of you completed it, because if you didn’t than you’re going to fall a bit behind”

Ford can feel his blood turn cold. He had completely forgotten to do any of his homework over the weekend. He had spent all of Friday and Saturday fixing up his science fair project and he had planned on working on it Sunday night after celebrating his acceptance into WCT. But since he never got accepted in and he fell asleep for the rest of the night about two hours after he had gotten home on Sunday, he never had time to do it.

When the teacher came by to his desk to collect his homework, he didn’t know what to say. He had never skipped a homework assignment before.

“Stanford, can I have your homework?” The teacher asks, and Ford bows his head down in shame.

“I didn’t do it” He says, and the teacher frowns.

“Why not?” he asks, and catches Ford’s quick glance at the empty desk next to him. “I see…” he says impatiently, and scribbles something down next to Ford’s name.

“I think your brother is starting to have a bad influence on you.” The teacher says, marking something down on his attendance sheet. He then pauses to flip through the sheets on his clipboard. “But since this is your first missed assignment of the year, I’ll let it slide and let you start the project. But _don’t_ let it happen again” He says, and then moves on to the next student.

Ford swallows hard and reaches for one of the tissues in his pockets. To avoid suspicion from his classmates he pats at his head with it, but when he realizes nobody’s paying attention to him he presses it against his eye to stop any tears form coming out. _This is getting ridiculous. There’s no way I could…He’s been depending on me too much lately anyway…Like some sort of sponge following me around…_ Ford’s thoughts scatter. He gets up to throw his tissue away and makes his way back to his seat.

To his luck, collecting and grading the homework from the rest of the class didn’t take as long as Ford thought it would. The class is quickly put into groups, and for the rest of class they’re assigned to brainstorm an idea. Ford is glad that it’s giving him something else to think about, and it takes his mind off of his brother for the rest of class. When class ends, however, he finds his thoughts directing right back to him.

As soon as the bell rings he runs for the nearest bathroom, turns the sink on and throws water in his face to snap himself out of his horrible mood. He grabs a few paper towels and dries his face off before looking at his reflection in the mirror.

“Come on, you know better than to feel this way” He says to his reflection. “What he did to you wasn’t okay. You were really looking forward to going to that school and he ruined every chance you had”

As his vision began to blur, his reflection began to look more like Stan’s.

“Stop that” he says as he wipes his eyes to make his vision clear again. “He’s gone. Stop thinking about the past and focus more on what really matters.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the pamphlet for West Coat Tech he forgot to throw away. “I bet I can get in without that project. I bet I could get a scholarship some other way” He says, and begins to flatten out the crinkles on the pamphlet.

His mood now slightly lightened, Ford places the pamphlet back into his pocket and heads off to class. However, his good mood fades when enters the class, as this teacher asks for a better explanation than “I forgot” as to why her best student hadn’t done his homework. This was not a class he shared with Stan, so had to make up a lie about his mom being in the hospital. He hated lying, but it was the only answer he could give that would get the teacher off of his back the quickest.

As the day goes on, Ford only finds his mood becoming worse and worse. As each new class starts something always happens that reminds him of his brother. Whether he’s mentioned directly or not, Ford can’t seem to think about anything else. One friend in a class even asks him how his meeting with the WCT admissions team went.

When last period finally rolls around, Ford is relieved. This is the class he has the test for, and that meant he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. Since this is one of his honors classes, the test is most likely going to take him the entire period to finish it. This means he can go home as soon as he finishes. After attendance is taken, Ford takes out his notebook and begins to look over his notes. He’s already confident he’ll do well on the test, but looking over his notes is also helping him distract himself. He places his notebook into his backpack when the teacher comes around, and starts the test as soon as it’s placed in front of him.

He breezes through the first half very easily, but then slows down and takes his time on the second section. Writing isn’t always his forte, especially when it comes to formal papers, so he likes to take a longer time on the open response section. By the time he finishes the last question, there’s only about five minutes left in class. He hands the test in, and then sits back in his chair and begins to pack up. He’s not planning on leaving early, but he wants to leave as soon as the bell rings so he can get home as soon as he possibly can. He can’t have anything else reminding him of his brother because he knows something will go wrong if he does. Even he knows he can’t keep his feelings hidden forever. He waits patiently at his desk, but when the bell rings he’s the first to jump up out of his seat and run out the door.

He doesn’t stop running until he’s at his car, and he speeds home as fast as he can without getting in trouble for it. He slows to a stop in front of his home to try to hide his urge to get inside, and forces himself to walk slower up to the front door than he wants to. He turns his keys slowly and walks in the door. He’s more than relieved when he sees that his father isn’t home from work yet.

He sneaks his way through the house, hoping his mother won’t hear him. Once safely upstairs, he locks his bedroom door and throws himself onto his bed. Suddenly overcome with emotion, he covers his face with one of his arms and allows the tears building up in his eyes to stream down his cheeks.

_This is going to be a lot harder than I thought._


End file.
